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Tuesday brought residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered breathing extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" range.

Record-Breaking Pollution Measurements

Various sections of the capital showed an AQI over 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the safe level established by the global health authority.

In some locations, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1,800, representing 15-20x above healthy levels.

Firecracker Prohibition and Recent Changes

For the past four years, authorities had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of firecrackers during the Festival of Lights due to their significant contribution to the deadly smog that covers the city as colder weather approaches.

Nevertheless earlier this year, the newly elected city leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a easing of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – previously doubted by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a balance between "heritage and environment".

Court Decision and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health advocates, judges complied with the appeal, mandating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be used during specific hours throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was considerable flouting of the regulated periods across the city, with minimal enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly type.

Many monitoring devices throughout Delhi showed air quality reaching highest levels around the night hours to extremely hazardous readings observed during celebrations in at least three years.

Regional Implications

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during Diwali also sparked a controversy with adjacent the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistan's the Punjab region partly blaming declining air quality in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles traveling from neighboring India following the celebrations.

Chronic Environmental Crisis

Extremely elevated concentrations of air contamination in the city have continued as a major problem for more than 15 years, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Around Diwali, the levels of toxic airborne contaminants in the environment has been documented to shoot up to significantly exceeding the peak levels ever recorded in Beijing, which was previously regarded as the globally most contaminated city.

Multiple Contamination Sources

This crisis in the city is caused by a convergence of various sources including transportation pollution, airborne particles, building projects, garbage fires and haze from farm burning in adjacent areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, farmers regularly set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, producing dangerous pollution that then gets trapped over the capital as winter air arrives.

Public Health and Financial Impact

The economic and health impact on the nearly 33 million residents living in the capital region is enormous, according to numerous studies.

These hazardous conditions results in elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can potentially cause cancer.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be responsible for 10,000 untimely deaths per year in the capital.